New papers

[Christopher Taylor <ck.taylor@auckland.ac.nz>]

A whole bunch of new papers have turned up today:

A number in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica - unfortunately, there are
problems with the abstract links (so the multituberculate paper, for
instance, links to an abstract on _Wonambi_), but the papers themselves seem
to be connected okay.

Percy M. Butler and Jerry J. Hooker. 2005. New teeth of allotherian mammals
from the English Bathonian, including the earliest multituberculates. APP
50(2): 185-207.
    Once again - the tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth. The
paper describes contemporaneous 'haramiyidans' and multituberculates, and
the authors support descent of the latter from the former. Allotheria is
implied to be the sister group to Mammaliaformes, with the seemingly derived
mammaliaform post-cranial characters of Multituberculata suggested to
represent convergence. This isn't supported by a proper total phylogenetic
analysis, though, but by models of evolution of molar occlusion patterns.

Michael Fastnacht. 2005. The first dsungaripterid pterosaur from the
Kimmeridgian of Germany and the biomechanics of pterosaur long bones. APP 50
(2): 273-288.
    The remains (not identified beyond family) are a well-preserved sacrum
and hip. Range of movement apparently supports quadrupedal locomotion.

Alexander O. Averianov, Evgeny N. Kurochkin, Evgeny M. Pervushov, and Alexei
V. Ivanov. 2005. Two bone fragments of ornithocheiroid pterosaurs from the
Cenomanian of Volgograd Region, southern Russia. APP 50 (2): 289-294.

Oldrich Fejfar, Martin Kostak, Jiri Kvacek, Martin Mazuch, and Michal
Moucka. 2005. First Cenomanian dinosaur from Central Europe (Czech
Republic). APP 50(2): 295-300.
"We describe the first dinosaur skeletal remains found in the Czech
Republic, consisting of one complete femur and indeterminable bone
fragments. They were recovered from the upper Cenomanian near-shore marine
sediments deposited on the slopes of an ancient archipelago, several
kilometres north of the larger Rhenish-Bohemian Island that was situated in
what is now the middle of Europe. Sediments yielding dinosaur remains are of
late Cenomanian age, Inoceramus pictus­I. pictus bohemicus inoceramid zone
of the local lithostratigraphic unit, the Peruc-Korycany Formation. These
are the first uncontested dinosaurian fossils reported from this formation
and also the first Cenomanian dinosaur record in Central Europe. They
document a small ornithopod belonging to an iguanodontid species comparable
with similar Late Cretaceous European forms. The herbivorous dinosaur lived
among a vegetation transitional between salt marsh flora, with abundant
halophytic conifer Frenelopsis alata; and an alluvial plain assemblage
dominated by lauroid angiosperms."

Neil D. L. Clark, Dugald A. Ross & Paul Booth. 2005. Dinosaur Tracks from
the Kilmaluag Formation (Bathonian, Middle Jurassic) of Score Bay, Isle of
Skye, Scotland, UK. Ichnos 12(2): 93 - 104.
"Tracks of a juvenile theropod dinosaur with footprint lengths of between 2
and 9 cm as well as adults of the same ichnospecies with footprints of about
15­25 cm in length were found in the Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) Kilmaluag
Formation of Score Bay, northwestern Trotternish Peninsula, Isle of Skye,
Scotland, UK. Two footprint sizes occur together on the same bedding plane
in the central portion of Score Bay, both in situ and on loose blocks.
Another horizon containing footprints above this was also identified. The
footprints from the lowest horizon were produced in a desiccated silty mud
that was covered with sand. A close association of both adults and juveniles
with similar travel direction indicated by the footprints may suggest
post-hatching care in theropod dinosaurs. Other footprints, produced on a
rippled sandy substrate, have been found on the slightly higher bedding
plane at this locality. Loose blocks found 130 m to the northeast in the
central part of Score Bay have not been correlated with any in situ
sediments, but were preserved in a similar manner to those from the higher
bedding plane. These tracks represent the youngest dinosaur remains yet
found in Scotland."

And finally, maybe not directly relevant, but just something to inspire
additions to the wishlist for future discovery:
Alan Channing, Mary Higby Schweitzer, John R. Horner & Terry McEneaney.
2005. A silicified bird from Quaternary hot spring deposits. Proceedings of
the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences 272(1566): 905-911.
"The first avian fossil recovered from high-temperature hot spring deposits
is a three-dimensional external body mould of an American coot (Fulica
americana) from Holocene sinters of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA.
Silica encrustation of the carcass, feathers and colonizing microbial
communities occurred within days of death and before substantial soft tissue
degradation, allowing preservation of gross body morphology, which is
usually lost under other fossilization regimes. We hypothesize that the
increased rate and extent of opal-A deposition, facilitated by either
passive or active microbial mediation following carcass colonization, is
required for exceptional preservation of relatively large, fleshy carcasses
or soft-bodied organisms by mineral precipitate mould formation. We suggest
physico-chemical parameters conducive to similar preservation in other
vertebrate specimens, plus distinctive sinter macrofabric markers of hot
spring subenvironments where these parameters are met."
    Probably a bit too much to hope for an entire sauropod, though....

    Cheers,

        Christopher Taylor